KULOB, June 10, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Labor migrants have remitted 23,915,961 U.S. dollars to banks in Khatlon’s Kulob region over the first five months of this year, which is some 20 million dollars fewer than in the same period of last year, Abdukarim Nematov, the head of the branch of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

In the meantime, the remittances in Russian rubles have increased more than three times over the report period compared to January-May 2008.  “In January-may 2008, Labor migrants remitted 85,552,770 Russian rubles to banks in Kulob while over the first five months of this year, they have remitted 263,445,347 Russian rubles to local banks,” Nematov said.

According to him, the remittances in euros to local banks over the same five-month period have also increased; in January-May 2008, labor migrants remitted 5,500 euros to banks in Kulob while over the first five months of this year, they have remitted some 18,000 euros to local banks.